Extending the Multi-Area Thévenin Equivalents method for parallel solutions of bulk power systems

The Multi-Area Thévenin Equivalents (MATEs) algorithm takes a partitioned network into a number of subnetworks interconnected by links and solves it in a two-step procedure: first, the subnetworks are solved independently, with the links open, and then the system formed by the links is solved with the subnetworks represented by their Thévenin equivalents as seen from the link nodes. In this paper, novel concepts, based on the characteristics of the electric networks, are introduced to the MATE algorithm, which minimize computation, memory usage and data exchange between processes. In addition, the performance of the algorithm is also analyzed and theoretical speedups limits are also obtained. Lastly, an application using the Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC) system (∼15,000 buses) is presented and compared with timings obtained with another parallel sparse linear solver.